DENVER (KDVR) — There are hundreds of unsolved homicide cases, long-term missing person cases, and unidentified remains cases in Colorado where at least three years have passed since the crime happened.
The Colorado cold case task force created a list of those cases dating back to 1970. The Problem Solvers are working to highlight cold cases in our state.
Who murdered Gary Johnson?
The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office and Colorado Bureau of Investigation are searching for answers in a cold case murder from 31 years ago.
Gary Johnson was found dead by a 14-year-old boy on Nov. 8, 1990 in an Arapahoe County field. He died of a gunshot wound to the back of the head, the sheriff’s office said.
The gun or bullets used in Johnson’s murder were never found.
Johnson was found wearing tan round-toed boots. His family said he never wore boots.
The sheriff’s office said Johnson had associations with business, real estate, softball, and bingo fundraising, which they say led to a number of suspects and possible motives. However, Johnson’s case remains unsolved to this day.
The sheriff’s office said that on the day of Johnson’s murder, he had scheduled several regular business meetings to attend.
Johnson met with one person at 8:30 a.m. and another person at 9:20 a.m. He had a third appoint schedule for 10:30 a.m. but the sheriff’s office said he never showed up.
“He cancelled an interview for 12:00 p.m. with an unknown female, had a brief telephone
conversation with a loan officer at 12:00 p.m., and was scheduled to meet with Denver Nuggets
players interested in buying one of his condos at 3:00 p.m. The investigation later revealed that
this meeting could not have taken place since none of the Nuggets players had ever heard of Mr.
Johnson or his condos. It is possible that the victim met with his killer instead,” the sheriff’s office said.
The day before Johnson was found dead, the sheriff’s office said that he gave someone a cashier’s check for $25,000, which was allegedly to pay for work done on a Roxborough Park Project.
If you have any information, please contact the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office.
Highlighting cold cases in Colorado
Here are some of the other cases we’ve highlighted:
- Cold case: Who murdered Maggie Long 1,651 days ago?
- Cold case: Who murdered Percy Sierra in 2008?
- Cold case: What happened to Mark Bonner 44 years ago?
- Cold case: Who kidnapped Christopher Abeyta 35 years ago?
- Cold case: Who killed JonBenét Ramsey 25 years ago?
- Cold case: Who killed Jessica Bejarano 15 years ago
- Cold case: Where is Terri Ackerman?
- Cold case: Who killed Richard Elliott at a grocery store 23 years ago?
- ‘Don’t ever give up hope’: Cold case: Who killed Edward Steinbach?
- Cold Case: Who killed Denise Davenport 37 years ago?
- Cold case: Who murdered James O’Neal Johnson 23 years ago?
- Cold case: Where is Jennifer Lynn Marcum?
- 18 people remain unidentified in Denver since 1970
If you ever have a cold case you would like us to feature, please fill out this form or send an email to dara.bitler@digital-staging.kdvr.com :
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System shows there are currently 21,556 open missing persons cases in the United States and over 300 in Colorado.